Written on 11:42 PM by Sarthak K

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in London 60% by 2025. It’s a massive goal, and one which many believe is unreachable using current methods. A new study shows that some radical moves might be needed in order to achieve it, such as banning all cars from London. The report was written by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Transport Studies Unit of the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, and explains that London will only make a 10-23% reduction at its current rate, but that their plan could achieve a 72% drop by 2030.

After reading the report, Auto Blog Green explain that, “Much of the reason that London's emissions are too high to begin with is that very few people walk, ride their bicycle or take public transportation.”

I think that this is far from true, as all trains and buses in London are packed to bursting at rush hour, and there are a lot of cyclists waiting at every red light. Yes, too many people drive, but the main problem is that public transport in London is old-fashioned and straining under the weight of far more traffic than it was designed for.

Not that many people actually drive to work in Central London, compared to the number that take public transport, but it doesn’t take very much traffic to clog up it’s ancient streets.

Although it seems very unlikely that cars would ever be banned from London, especially outer London, it does look as though the congestion charge will be raised, and its area increased.Every time this happens the amount of traffic in the city will decrease, and it will be more comfortable for cyclists and pedestrians. Some pedestrian-only streets wouldn’t hurt either, but we’ll see if the next mayor shares Ken’s congestion-charge ideals.

Written on 5:30 AM by Sarthak K

The Harry Potter film series has become the biggest in box office history, beating James Bond and Star Wars. The five movies have taken $4.47bn (£2.2bn) around the world, surpassing the $4.44bn (£2.19bn) made by the spy franchise's 22 outings to date.

The six Star War films now sit in third place, with takings of $4.23bn (£2bn).There are still two Harry Potter films to be released next year and in 2010, based on the final instalments of the popular books by author JK Rowling.

The latest film, The Order of the Phoenix, remains a box office draw in a dozen countries, and has taken over $920m (£454m) around the world.

The film entered the UK box office chart at number one in July, taking six times as much as its nearest rival in just three days.

Each of the first five films is in the top 20 worldwide cinema releases of all time.